Inside "General Hospital" -- Then and Now

At the time of my first appearance I was television editor for Inside Media magazine and I wanted to know what it would be like to actually enter the everyday world of a scripted series that I had been watching for a very long time since the Luke and Laura thing in the late Seventiesamp160A soap opera seemed the best choice for many reasons not least of which was the speed and efficiency with which they were and continue to be written and produced with a fraction of the resources enjoyed by primetime showsamp160 It was an amazing period for soaps which were still powered by the outsize success the genre had enjoyed throughout the Eighties when they rivaled primetime series in terms of popularity and profitability That39s me on the right with my 1992 scene partner John J Yorkamp160There were 11 soaps on the Big Three broadcast networks in 1992 Today only four remain amp8211 two on CBS one on NBC and GH on ABC Each of them has proven to be a survivor and each in its own way has adapted to the challenges the genre has faced since the midNineties The beginning of the end some experts continue to assert began with the prolonged live daytoday coverage of the OJ Simpson doublemurder trial in 199495 which effectively broke decadesold daytime viewing habits amp160Or perhaps it was all about competition for eyeballs which exploded in the Nineties with the expansion of cable television and the rise of the Internet or changes in lifestyles particularly those of young women the majority of whom were no longer stayathome moms with the time or the desire to commit to daily dramatic programmingRegardless many millions of people hope that the remaining TV soaps stick around and continue to adapt as necessary If they donamp8217t it wonamp8217t be for lack of trying GH for example amp8211 which seemed to accomplish the impossible back in 1992 by blocking taping and editing a single episode of the show every day now completes six or seven of them a week The speed with which the production moved along during my first time on the show was impressive but what I saw last month when I spent a day there was even more spectacularIt was my great pleasure to have as my primary scene partner Jane Elliot whose portrayal of wealthy and combustible businesswoman Tracy Quartermaine earned her aamp160Daytime Emmy Award in 1981 and did as much to power GH to its legendary greatness as the storiesamp160of Luke and Laura the Cassadines various mobsters or anyone elseamp160Elliot came and went from the show through the years but she will always be considered one of the most popular performers in its long and colorful historyamp160During her times away Elliot appeared on Days of Our Lives All My Children Guiding Light and the primetime soap Knots Landing She also portrayed Tracy Q on the shortlived ABC soap The City where the character became an unlikely mob bossI also got to work with Wally Kurth who plays Tracyamp8217s son Ned and guest star Oliver Muirhead playing one of her many exhusbands Thatamp8217s me second from left with Kurth Elliot and at right GH executive producer Frank Valentini who takes a great selfieWorking with Elliot was especially exciting for me not because I have been a fan for so long but because an experience involving an unforgettable daytime cliffhanger on GH that she was at the center of forever proved to me of the power of topnotch serialized storytelling The episode of GH that ran on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend in 1980 ended with the nowclassic sequence in which Tracy refused to give lifesaving medication to her father Edward whom she believed to be dying of a heart attack unless he agreed to alter his will in her favor He wouldnamp8217t do it and after writhing and gasping for air on the floor seemingly expired Was it possible that Tracy would stand by and watch her father die Maybe There were no spoilers thenThe following Monday I was invited to a holiday beach party at a house that did not have a television It was a beautiful day and all my friends would be there amp8211 but if I went I wouldnamp8217t be able to watch GH What to do I solved the problem by borrowing a portable black and white television with rabbit ears setting it up on the beach under an umbrella and running power cords across the sand to the house My friends and I gathered around to watch amp8230 and when the TV blasted the GH theme song which was instantly recognized by millions of teens college students and young adults back then people we did not know came running from up and down the beach to see if Tracy had let Edward perish He lived He was faking Tracy was traumatized Elliot won her Emmy for those episodesThirtyseven years later I was on the receiving end of her wrath playing a waiter who is trying to be helpful while Tracy fresh off a blistering fight with someone else takes it out on the first person she encounters me amp160After all that time now I know how Edward feltAs a friend of mine who was at that 1980 beach party recently remarked of my chance to be in scenes with Tracy Quartermaine amp8220These things donamp8217t happen to ordinary people Edamp8221amp160 Great things donamp8217t happen to amp8220ordinaryamp8221 shows either GH will on April 1 will mark its 54th anniversary That is in a word amp8220extraordinaryamp8221amp160BringBackWaiterEdAlso read myamp160interview with GH executive producer Frank ValentiniClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this article are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggersamp160amp160

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Inside "General Hospital" -- Then and Now

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Ed Martin

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Inside "General Hospital" -- Then and Now

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